Once Upon an AI: Six Scaffolds for Child-AI Interaction Design, Inspired by Disney

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Kurian, Nomisha
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866908649446703104
author Kurian, Nomisha
author_facet Kurian, Nomisha
contents To build AI that children can intuitively understand and benefit from, designers need a design grammar that serves their developmental needs. This paper bridges artificial intelligence design for children - an emerging field still defining its best practices - and animation, a well established field with decades of experience in engaging children through accessible storytelling. Pairing Piagetian developmental theory with design pattern extraction from 52 works of animation, the paper presents a six scaffold framework that integrates design insights transferable to child centred AI design: (1) signals for visual animacy and clarity, (2) sound for musical and auditory scaffolding, (3) synchrony in audiovisual cues, (4) sidekick style personas, (5) storyplay that supports symbolic play and imaginative exploration, and (6) structure in the form of predictable narratives. These strategies, long refined in animation, function as multimodal scaffolds for attention, understanding, and attunement, supporting learning and comfort. This structured design grammar is transferable to AI design. By reframing cinematic storytelling and child development theory as design logic for AI, the paper offers heuristics for AI that aligns with the cognitive stages and emotional needs of young users. The work contributes to design theory by showing how sensory, affective, and narrative techniques can inform developmentally attuned AI design. Future directions include empirical testing, cultural adaptation, and participatory co design.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_08670
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Once Upon an AI: Six Scaffolds for Child-AI Interaction Design, Inspired by Disney
Kurian, Nomisha
Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
To build AI that children can intuitively understand and benefit from, designers need a design grammar that serves their developmental needs. This paper bridges artificial intelligence design for children - an emerging field still defining its best practices - and animation, a well established field with decades of experience in engaging children through accessible storytelling. Pairing Piagetian developmental theory with design pattern extraction from 52 works of animation, the paper presents a six scaffold framework that integrates design insights transferable to child centred AI design: (1) signals for visual animacy and clarity, (2) sound for musical and auditory scaffolding, (3) synchrony in audiovisual cues, (4) sidekick style personas, (5) storyplay that supports symbolic play and imaginative exploration, and (6) structure in the form of predictable narratives. These strategies, long refined in animation, function as multimodal scaffolds for attention, understanding, and attunement, supporting learning and comfort. This structured design grammar is transferable to AI design. By reframing cinematic storytelling and child development theory as design logic for AI, the paper offers heuristics for AI that aligns with the cognitive stages and emotional needs of young users. The work contributes to design theory by showing how sensory, affective, and narrative techniques can inform developmentally attuned AI design. Future directions include empirical testing, cultural adaptation, and participatory co design.
title Once Upon an AI: Six Scaffolds for Child-AI Interaction Design, Inspired by Disney
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.08670